u/Godzilla_R0AR

u/18fries

u/18fries

Why not just, I dunno go over to the 2nd living room and get distracted on the TV or something. Get entranced by the 80 inch flatscreen for all I care.

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/Riverioli

Catra was in their shared room before waking up. She looked around, no Jinx.

Well, that was pretty normal, Jinx was more of a wandering cat than she ever was. Randomly leaving and coming back.

But then she didn't... and then didn't some more... and then Catra found a note on her bed.

She felt a familiarity of this situation. A friend leaving her and giving her a note on a bed. She saw it was from Jinx. Scribbled with various signs and her graffitied monkey bomb with a scribbled down "To: Catra" and "From: Jinx"

Her hand brushed over the envelope's surface before she stopped herself. She took a deep, uncertain breath, and walked out of the GDA facility with it in her hands.

She walked all the way to The Council Building, but she didn't go into the front entrance, she climbed. And climbed. And climbed some more all the way until she was at the top.

She felt the building sway a few inches in the wind way up there... but it was her peaceful place.

Dangerous? Probably. But there were metal fences and a lookout deck, so it was build with people coming up in mind.

Her back pocket felt the envelop. The sun was on the horizon. It was warm... but it was also calm up here.

There were so many times when council work just needed an escape, and her being up here was that escape. It was her little thinking spot hundreds of feet off the ground.

She sighed, a deep one. She knew what this was, and it was gonna hurt. Hurt like hell, but she needed to respect it. Cause if she didn't then, what wife would she'd have been?

She opened the note, it was filled with scribbles of the two, a crude scribble of Horde Prime with an arrow saying he was "A big fat pussy", one of Conquest that said "Old cranky geezer", and a few more enemies they'd face. One of Scorpy saying she was "A good girl", one of Thanos saying "Big ballsack chin man".

She couldn't help it and laughed... she always knew how to make Catra laugh...

...but then why was she also crying?

She sniffed and chuckled before wiping her tears. "God this fucking idiot..." she thought to herself. She then read the note...

______

To Catra, Catra Lane? No that's making it seem like a formal thing. Weird.

I'm never good with writing these things. Always try to think of something and then "Blah blah blah" I write about stuff. So I guess I'm gonna write this to say that I'm leaving.

I love you, you know that, but I can't be tied to a 3 foot radius around ya. Especially since you're kinda a councilwoman... and I'm sorta, kinda, maybe Piltover's most wanted criminal! So... yeah not so good.

Anywho, I'm taking a long time to go on my own adventure. Might not write letters (you know how shit I am at them, Viktor and Rozy got one though). Damn, do you do this daily? Boring as hell, love.

I'm headed to Bilgewater but knowing me I'll be all around Runeterra cause I never enjoy settling in one place. I'll see you at some point but I can't tell you when.

Y'know when you miss me make sure to pound Orange Juice until you're woozy off Vitamin C. You'll do great things, I know you will babe.

Eeeeeeh no, that's too sappy. How about "Dork"? Yeah. Dork is great. You're a certified dork in my eyes, and I hope I'm the most glorious shitwad in your heart.

If it wasn't for you or Rozy during that fight with Proxima I would've died, and then that made me realize maybe I need to get out more than the same place.

Can't have a good life if you don't go anywhere and get KILLED like a loser! I might kick the bucket whenever, it's not predictable, so I gotta make the most of it y'know? Same with you, same with everyone.

I realized after getting stabbed nearly to death, I need to live the moments I have more.

Getting a little long but, for the people who weren't given letters, tell them I say hi. Please.

You changed me, as much as I changed you. Changing you from someone with a dark past is probably what I'm most proud about.

Giving you someone to love, someone to care for, a person to fight for. Feels weird to be cared about so much but I kinda dig it.

Lots of people wish they could have me, but you deserve me just as much as I do you.

I love you, more than I can put in words. This isn't goodbye forever, or never seeing you again, or a breakup, this is just... I dunno, a breather.

Sincerely; your wife, your love, and your reason for being a better person.

Jinx Lane ♡

______

Her heart felt heavy... she gripped the paper a little tighter... but then she remembered everything they did. Catra had her council to fall back on, but what did Jinx have?

Not really much of anything. Catra was busying her life and trying to get away from fighting and Jinx was just... kinda there. Left to just pass the time until Catra saw her again.

Catra's ears folded, her tail dropped limp, she closed her eyes and breathed an uneven breath. Spilling all her emotions out, she cried, but it was a weird feeling of joy mixed with sadness before emptying the brain of her conflicting feelings.

Then, she smiled at the letter. She sniffed and shook her head in extreme melancholy "She's such a dork..." she told herself.

She reached into her left pocket. Pulling out a folded picture, Scorpia, Entrapta, and a certain grumpy past rendition of her who hated being in the picture looking bored out of her mind.

She thought about what Rozy said in the middle of this entire Thanos fiasco. Wanting to leave, wanting to say goodbye...

...her friends were going to new places, going on their own adventures and settling their own pasts and that hurt. It hurt a lot.

Rozy leaving... hurt, because now who would she have? The Guardians, Viktor, the other assortment of the team but... the people she first met when coming to Runeterra?

Half of them are leaving. Half of the reason she's alive today.

She sighed and clutched her heart before breathing out deeper than any breath she's taken today. She put the enveloped letter from Jinx and picture of her past back into her pockets. Jinx leaving hurt, but it was understandable. Her wife needed to not be bound by her.

She just looked out, and let the warmth of the sun overtake her.

"I'm gonna miss you Jinx... a lot..."

She fiddled around with her ring on her ring finger

"...hell, more than a lot... you're my wife, I can't keep holding you close forever... I know... I know... I'm kinda naive thinking that now..."

Catra closed her eyes and just let the silence of her being alone 60 floors up on the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the city calm her.

"...but you have your own life... your own adventures, so just..."

She placed the letter on her chest and hugged it.

"...live them."

•••

A few hours passed up there, before she climbed back down and made her way back to The GDA's Facility.

The sliding doors did what they were named for, as she walked through. She sat down on her bed, and gave a melancholic smile.

She folded the note, and placed it with her other extremely valuable things hidden from easy access.

u/18fries

You got a name? You have actually funny humor unlike Viktor who just tries too damn hard to be funny. Spoiler alert, he's not. The shock humor jokes got boring by the third week and that was 8 months ago.

u/Riverioli

Everyone was sleeping in the room, Jinx was snoring, Viktor was doing something weird while asleep, Vi was drunk asleep, The GDA was quiet.

...

...

Catra grumbled before slowly opening her eyes. Her face was bandaged from bruises and her ribs hurt... or did they? Or was it just numb? Damn, how much pummeling happened to her?

"Where... where the fuck am I?" she asked herself internally

She tugged on Jinx's sleeve who was out like a light with her head rested back sitting in a chair

"Mmmgh... no... no Vik... you weird little shit... stop poking at me..." she muttered fast asleep...

Catra tugged the same amount. She couldn't try harder, she didn't have the strength to.

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

Kratos: We are going back to our own plane of existence. I wish you all good tidings.

Mimir: If you ever want to visit any of The Nine Norse Realms, come give us a visit yeah? I'm sure we'd love to have you explore the nine various environments!

Kratos: Just don't harm them, or we will know.

Mimir: You've all been grand friends, every one of ya. Jinx, your wife'll be okay. I'm sure of it.

Kratos: I wish her well, for I know she will survive this. Tell her that her skills in leadership are noted—

Mimir: She reminds me of you actually. Except with eh, more fur and less seriousness. And she's fun.

Kratos: I can be... "fun".

Mimir: Sure, sure ya can. Anywho, farewell to our friends. If ya wanna say anything to us, now's the chance and the time.

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/Flameborn111

Everyone was tired.

Venom and Eddie were healing.

Venom was tapped out from straining Jinx's mind to save her from a seizure. Sleeping, while also encasing Eddie in a cocoon of healing.

Rocket, Groot, and Mando were still in the skies battling leviathans and ships.

Vi was relieved Jinx was okay, as was everyone else.

Jinx's vitals were closer to just being unconscious, and was able to wake. Her vitals beeped on the monitor with a slightly slower rhythm than standard heart beating.

Meanwhile Rozalyt's nanites still tried to fix up Catra the best they could but her vitals were still hovering on the edge of being too low. A lot lower than Jinx's. Much more of a longer process of healing and being in an extended state of comatose. Her monitor was weaker noticeably than Jinx's, but not to a deathly degree.

Orianna sat next to her, meanwhile Viktor was just relieved Jinx wasn't in critical condition otherwise their shared link would put him at risk too. If she died, he would too.

The remaining Guardians in the room sat down. Quill sighed, knowing Thanos was coming. Hell he probably was already here.

And that was correct, because suddenly the noises of the outside fighting stopped. Everything went... eerily silent. As if forces from Thanos had paused for some reason.

To witness their master's arrival.

Nebula and Gamora simply stayed there in their seats, not entirely sure if they could face their father (or at the very least a variant of him).

The GDA's Staff gave the team their privacy, not wanting to intrude.

Kratos grumbled, sitting away from the rest and tightening the chains around his arms belonging to his Blades of Chaos.

He stood up, lumbering but with resolve of what had to happen next.

Mimir looked at him from The Greek God's belt. Knowing what he was thinking. He sighed, knowing there was no other option at this point.

Kratos began walking silently out of the medbay holding everyone inside, and went to the door with a new look. One of protection, yet also resolve.

Thanos was here, and everyone was worse for wear.

Kratos delivered a deep gruff annoyed

"You all are in critical or injured conditions. I shall face him. That gives you time to heal, so that he won't come here and acquire the stones while you all are still needing time."

He looked at them all, with a gaze that left no room for convincing otherwise. He was dead set on this. He had made his decision.

"It shall end the same way it does for all of those who're too blind by arrogance and inevitability. Death."

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

(Chronologically takes place a few seconds after "The Summoning" post)

After Jörmungandr's dive back into the water... the blue Norse Runes upon the rocks of the gateway glowed and hummed before a flash of blue light occurred. Then, out came a man.

Only he wasn't a man.

He wasn't a mere warrior.

He was something so much more powerful than that.

Another God, only this time not just a beheaded one.

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

Everyone was upon the shore of Piltover, the water was foggy and the distance was white. Mimir turned to Lest...

Now, you wouldn't happen to have a horn would ya Lest? Preferably a big one. Probably for some sort of religious reason. Potentially to signal some sort of war. From whatever ancient dead tribe you took it from. Something like that?

u/Riverioli

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/18fries

Venom looked to Quill, Rocket, Wretch, Orianna, and Catra.

You all are probably wondering. "Venom! You amazing and strong hero, you! How did you find yourself here?"

I- I don't think they-

QUIET EDDIE! I want to tell the story.

...fine.

So, there we were at a Mexican Bar in... well, Mexico! We were transported from our home universe to one with... a certain alien who enjoyed stones.

Yeah the bartender talked to us about this purple guy who loves his glowing rocks

But then we were transported out! We were DRUNK!

That's... that's not really part of the stor-

SHUT UP EDDIE! Listen to my beautiful retelling of our story! Anyway, we were engulfed in an orange and yellow light before waking up here!

Yeah we thought we'd have woken up in our home universe but I guess not

WE guess not! Then these Kylosians took us and locked us up.

Very very bad stuff.

Yes! They didn't even give us a brain to eat. So we ended up eating theirs instead!

That... tasted bad-

You always say that. Grow up! Put on your big boy pants and "take it", Eddie.

So yeah that's how we ended up here.

A multiversal duo of losers!

Eh we're not THAT much of... lose-

We very much are, amigo. We very much are.

u/18fries

u/Riverioli

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/Flameborn111

u/THE_WRETCH-0

If you hurt her, you're hurting me. I'm not one to allow myself to be hurt willingly.

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

Me and the kid have traveled many times in my galaxy, and now we're in this one. Still stays the same though, the nomadic traveling and never staying in the same spot twice. Crash landed about 7 months ago on Runeterra but since then we've mended The Razorcrest and followed your orange ship over here on a whim that it had to do with something important.

So tell me, what's this special rock everyone is making a big deal about?

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

They arrived at The Heart of Etheria walking on the platform below it, a deep dark abyss below them of black. It took a while for them all to get down to the core of the planet but they succeeded in passing all the various traps from The Crystal Castle.

The Heart pulsed a sickly red, clearly infected with The Reality Stone floating around it, stationary in the air.

u/Riverioli

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/18fries

Hordak's a grump, Entrapta is getting back to her old lab corner in The Sanctum, and Orianna is covered in a barfed up rainbow and glitching out.

Just sooooooo wonderful... yippee...

u/Riverioli

u/THE_WRETCH-0

Rozy had the idea to go try and talk to The Rebellion to try and ease tension before The Rebellion realized Catra and Hordak were back from their month long "missing persons cases".

Quill and the other 4 Guardians stuck around to help Rozy. Initially she wanted to do this by herself but as Catra put it "It'd probably be better to meet more of the team during other times instead of all at once" so that's what she would do now.

However, on their way to Bright Moon's Castle, Rozy felt the moisture in the forest's air change to be more... damp? Weird.

u/18fries

u/Riverioli

u/THE_WRETCH-0

The portal jolted open but the other end wasn't seen. The air from Etheria drifted into Entrapta's laboratory in Zaun. It was a distinct ashy smell, Catra's nose twitched as she sniffed it.

All she could do was just close her eyes. It smelt like fire, like ash, whatever she'd see on the other end was most definitely the aftermath of her and Hordak's crusades.

"Never thought I'd be back again after... all this time..." she muttered before taking a deep breath and walking through.

The other side was... well, in shambles to say the least. They got hit with new air, one that was more smoky.

They appeared in the territory just outside of The Fright Zone. To the front of them were lights, green haze, The Fright Zone itself with its sickly glow of industrialized smog.

"Well that's looks... uh... fun..." Quill took it in. Rocket sighed. "Who you kiddin' Quill? It looks like it's on fire. Literally!"

Hordak stepped forward and gestured to the green glow on the horizon. "We go that direction, we go back to The Fright Zone to regroup. THAT is our base of operations."

Jinx looked behind them on a whim only to see an orange light from the horizon and black smoke. "What... uh... what's over there?"

Catra looked, her eyes widened, and she sighed before looking down. Hesitant to even talk about it... "That's uh... the kingdom I burned. Salineas, The Water Kingdom. We burned it shortly before I accidentally transported myself into Runeterra."

"Hey you remember how Etheria is like... on another timerate than Runeterra is?" Entrapta chuckled awkwardly "Yeeeeeeah so uh... it's only been about... a month here... since you left... despite the fact it's been 10 months since you did based on Runeterra's standards of time... Etheria's time has passed even less since me and Hordak since we came later."

They walked towards The Fright Zone. It was trashy, hazy with green smoke. As if Zaun was on the surface, yet somehow worse.

Buildings shoved too close to one another, rotting away. Dirt, mud, grime everywhere.

Ripped off Horde Insignias as banners were now torn down after The Rebellion's liberation of The Fright Zone back to the kingdom it was before being overtaken by Hordak.

The entire kingdom was quiet. It felt cold. Authoritarian. Like a cold metal hand had encompassed everything. Nobody was here anymore.

No soldiers. No people. It was as if anyone who was in proximity of it couldn't bear to be near it.

Makes sense that people would finally leave a place they'd been wishing to escape for ages.

It was dark, and the fumes closed everyone's throats up to the point of feeling on the verge of coughing constantly, except for Catra, Hordak, and Entrapta.

The air quality was terrible. The city was in shambles. The sun was seen but it was coated in a thick fog.

Trash blew around, clearly even with The Horde's sanction over this place, poverty still was strong here.

It felt... like a tumor had just plopped itself down on this once green land. But it wasn't green when Catra was born and it certainly wasn't green before then.

"...home sweet home..." Catra sighed sadly, looking at the cage she'd spent her entire childhood in. "...breathe in those fumes everyone, cause it's what I've known my entire life..."

She stopped and looked down...

"...welcome to my home, everyone."

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/Flameborn111

She closes her eyes and breaths out before clasping her hands behind her back. She paces back and forth slowly, chin proudly raised.

I'm not going to be cruel. I won't bark out orders meanly, but I won't be light on them either. I won't be quiet. We don't need quiet right now, we need resolve. We need discipline. You only get that level of resolve by raising your tone when you need to, to unify your branch, so that they can be on the same page. We're in a war, we need to be the gears in a mechanism. One fails? They all do.

Don't let that happen.

She stops and looks over. Her chin tilting down from its previous height.

Thanos is coming, Quill told me. He's the biggest genocidal warlord of their universe's entire existence. More than me, more than Hordak, hell even more than Horde Prime. Those of you who know of Prime, realize that this new guy on the field is a big deal. Be unified during this. Listen to your fellow team members.

Don't. Hold. Grudges.

I mean it. That's my order above all else. So do your part, and LISTEN to your General. Not out of strict obligation, but out of tactical duty so that we don't all fumble. Because then? That's on me. I don't want to be responsible for an injury out on the field.

We're going to my home. My dimension. Etheria. Just because it's a land me and Hordak come from doesn't mean you should let your guard down.

You'll see things. Many things. Many atrocities to these lands. Some that make me seem like a psychopath for even leading their creations to begin with.

Ignore them. That's not who I am anymore. I'll be just as ashamed as any of you are when looking at the burned and razed land to the ground.

She clears her throat

I anoint Hordak to be my other General. He knows just as much experience if not more so than me, he knows this field like the back of his hand, same as me.

Listen to him. He will guide you just as well as me. He's changed. Remember what I told you about grudges? Good.

The Reality Stone is located in a place known as The Heart of Etheria, imbuing itself within The First Ones' technology embedded within the core of the planet itself. The First Ones are a group of an unnamed civilization that occupied ancient Etheria thousands of years ago. Their alien tech is scattered across the surface, but also created a superweapon out of it.

A superweapon able to exert enough energy to obliterate the planet entirely. Killing billions of lives. The Reality Stone is unpredictable, it's unstable, it can change the fabric of what you see. It COULD activate that weapon the more it's around it. We don't know.

If you're alone, and you can't see anyone around, be on your guard. We don't know if this stone is sentient enough to protect itself by disguising itself from plain sight. Additionally we don't know if there's a user of the stone where that heart is or not.

If you get separated from the group, be wary of anyone appearing illogically from nowhere. They might be an illusion.

Finally, there's a Rebellion. As of now because me and Hordak are not within that reality to keep up The Horde anymore, they won. I can only assume their efforts to clean the planet are already in focus. Here's the issue, they don't know that me and Hordak have changed while we were gone. The only person who does is Adora, she was here during our battle against Horde Prime a few months ago as you all know. She tied up loose ends with me, and I'd love to say she told everyone else about it, but we cannot rely on that.

If they see me. They will try to stop me thinking I'm still supporting the burning of anyone who opposes The Horde. Not to mention, NONE of them have seen Hordak and we don't have Entrapta to have that edge of truth. Just two genocidal maniacs changed by their hearts, having to have their words taken as a truth by those who never trusted us to begin with.

If you see any Princesses. Anyone who has any sort of elemental power?

Do NOT tell them, under any circumstances, that you're in association with me or Hordak. They WILL think you are a member of The Horde and they WILL try to interrogate you.

We fight together, if we do that then we can't be defeated. Thanos isn't here yet, we have 4 more stones to prepare before then. Use that time wisely.

We don't have more time than that.

Dismissed.

u/Riverioli

u/18fries

u/THE_WRETCH-0

u/Flameborn111

In Lest's Manor of Collectables, the entire team stood there together planning for the next stone location's interception.

They all gave Catra glances. Some of pity, some of offense.

She brushed them all aside and stood in front of everyone before saying something she should've said so much earlier...

My fate was never bound to set foot in these lands, I stayed here to escape from my past, to escape from my deeds of war. My... cruel and guiltless life before, does not fill me with pride but with shame. I was never supposed to be fated to start the new one I have now. To be able to be BETTER than the person I was a lifetime ago. I wish it were that easy. It isn't.

I've been consumed by this... fear. Fear that if I don't distance myself from the same actions of my past self, that violence and that warrior of pain. Then I might seep back into that terrible place, and never return back to who I am today.

To become her again.

I flee. I run. I hide.

I can hide no longer.

I do not want this war. This battle. This burden. A burden of leadership, a burden of responsibility, and MY burden of...

...change.

We have all suffered enough. Prophecy did not lead us here. Prophecy did not lead ME to this path, a path of redemption, a path of peace. Nor will this predestined path win this battle.

Wars are won by those who are willing to sacrifice EVERYTHING.

But sacrificing everything for protecting is NOT the same as sacrificing it all for the sake of chasing selfish ambition.

Do not let past enemies stay enemies in times of unity. Do not let grudges outlast the presence of war. I made that mistake.

I won't ever again.

If the risk of returning to those old ways of violence are the cost of my vengeance... the cost of protecting this universe...? If my dangerously close return to that selfish place to protect all of you is needed then... I have no other choice than to do it. I shall risk that. If I need to face my demons, to confront my past to forge a better future for all of you then...

...so be it.

The tethers of fate keep telling me how my story is supposed to end. I stare at the threads of defeat and STILL fight. I chase redemption that I know I can never deserve, but... then what does that make me?

A mind of a fool. A voice of naivety... but also heart of fragile...

...hope.

When all else is lost, when all else is gone, hope remains. To keep fighting. To keep striving.

So what now? Should I take the mantle? Proclaim my army? Lead the war?

...

...or should I lose everything and everyone I've ever loved... in listening to what fate is telling me...? She was cruel, and arrogant, and selfish...

...but she has always been more than what others saw.

Will there ever be enough left inside of me so that I do not become her?

I do not know, but I have... hope.

Not of her ambition and rage...

...but of my protection and love.

I need to be better... than who I was before.

But I only ask of you to trust me. I can't lead in hesitancy. My mind won't let me. I need your support, because without that... then I really WILL go back to what The Horde forged. I'll doubt myself. I'll just... go back to who I was before.

I'm tired of going back to my old ways.

The second I think I win and I've finally conquered my past it just pops back up again.

A talk with a certain decapitated head helped me realize that there's a pattern I've missed in that. Every single time I go back to who I was before, it was after I abandoned being surrounded by my friends.

It's time we move forward. It's time I MOVE FORWARD.

For everyone's sake.

To break free.

One final time.

For my friends.

My wife.

My sister.

For the family I'm proud to call my own...

...after the universe didn't think I deserved one in a childhood stolen from me.

So, you have her perseverance.

But, you also have my hope.

You have our answer.

You have your General.